Activists protest against chess as 'racist'

[Winston]

LC,

Re. the chess piece Bishop: Löpare/Løber cannot be directly translated into "Runner". Granted, it's the same word but the meaning of it is different - it's a formal position at the Royal Court, like I noted above. We even have them today, and I'd suppose you do too... Try to look for the guy who seats the King and Queen at the next televised state dinner, that's a "Löpare"!

Aide-de-camp is the closest translation I believe.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Mercator
I demand equal rights for Asians and Native Americans.

We need two extra colors in chess, red and yellow. And to prevent any upsets over anyone getting the first move, everyone should move simultaneously!

Actually, that's an interesting idea. Simultaneous moves, that is.

Each player would write down there move beforehand, and the moves would be revealed at the same time. If a capture was attempted but the target moved, the piece would be moved to the formerly occupied square but no capture would occur. If the pieces were to capture each other, both would be removed from the board.

[:) Smiley]

Aight, this is what I'd rename some of the pieces:

King   --> Sysadmin
Queen  --> Supercitizen
Bishop --> Moderator
Knight --> Deity
Rook   --> Off Topic board
Pawn   --> Double Login

[:) Smiley]

Simultaneous moves? Mad Monk, want to start a forum game?

[Last Conformist]

@Winston: That may very well be the historical origin, but it's not the meaning that people associate with the name of the chess piece.

Turns out we do still have a löpare at the court; a ceremonial position whose only function is to accompany the queen in certain formal contexts. Never heard of it before, and I don't believe I'm particularly unusual in that.


@AS: Rock, rook, schmook! Well, the word "rook" suggests a giant bird of Arabic folklore to me - I guess it makes slightly more sense than a rock ...

[The Mad Monk]

Smiley: maybe later.

LC: a rookery is usually a rockey area where seabirds and the like nest.

[Winston]

Hopefully we can agree that just because the majority of people take a certain word to mean something it doesn't, doesn't necessarily make it so.

[Last Conformist]

@Winston: Sure. I do not however see that insisting on the "correct" meaning here has any interest beyond the antiquarian.

[Winston]

I'd say it does, as the (sub-)debate originated from the controversy over why it's called a Bishop in "Western" culture. Simply saying "it's not called a Bishop here, but a Runner" would be grossly misleading IMO.

And now, I'll shut up.

[:) Smiley]

In most chess sets, it looks more like a Soviet missile anyway.

[atomant]

Originally posted by Winston
Who's in favour of all chess players being forced to crawl on their hands and knees before Robert Mugabe to apologize?

I mean, just as a start...

Of course, we should all bow to this paragon of virtue and good governance. In fact, all chess pieces should be painted black to show we are overcoming the stigma of colonial oppression.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by Winston
I'd say it does, as the (sub-)debate originated from the controversy over why it's called a Bishop in "Western" culture. Simply saying "it's not called a Bishop here, but a Runner" would be grossly misleading IMO.

And now, I'll shut up.

It looks like it's wearing a bishop's hat.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Winston
I'd say it does, as the (sub-)debate originated from the controversy over why it's called a Bishop in "Western" culture. Simply saying "it's not called a Bishop here, but a Runner" would be grossly misleading IMO.

It would seem to me that the least misleading would then be to say that in Swedish it's called löpare, which is now normally understood to mean "runner", but, in fact, originally refered to a servant of the queen's.

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by Adagio



Me!!!

Why? Because of several reasons:

1) I believe back in the days as they invented the game, racism was more common, so they might have made the game racist back then... I don't believe there's anything racist in the game today

2) Why is it that white always has to start? And why is it always white and black? Couldn't it just be 'random' colors, were it could be blue against red or whatever? Thinking about it, it does seem racist somehow...

3) I hate chess

Chess was invented and palyed in India and Persia - no racism there .

And I love chess .

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Winston
The Bishop is not called a bishop in all of the Western cultural sphere. In Danish for instance, it's called "Løber", which I'm not able to translate directly, but it signifies a certain position at the Royal Court of a close personal aide to the Monarch.

Over here, it's called "le fou", which can be translated either as "the crazy" or "the jester"